Kingdom Hearts III: The Twilight Knight of the Aegis
by Hierarch Andaronius
Summary: From the stars above, we'll descend upon the worlds. Take back what they stole. From shadows, we'll reclaim our destiny. Set our future free and we'll rise.
1. A Secret

The Dive to the Heart. Sora had been here once before. This place was mostly all darkness except for one pillar that Sora was standing on. It emanated a glow that just felt right to Sora, warm and reassuring. On the pillar, the whole floor looked like the whole floor was stained glass, only not transparent. On the stained glass was a whole picture of Sora, his eyes closed. This place was very special to him, since it was the phyiscal incarnation of his own heart. This is the very place where he fought an enormous pure Heartless when he first acquired the Keyblade and when he first embarked on his journey.

This time, however, he fought another Keyblade wielder wearing the infamous black cloak. Sora didn't know how he appeared in this place, only that the hooded figure took him here after Sora blocked his attack.

The hooded man held two Keyblades, each normally belonging to Sora. In his right hand he held the Oblivion, the symbol for his friendship with his childhood friend, Riku. And in the left, the Oathkeeper, also a symbol for the cherished friendship he shares with... Kairi.

Sora and the hooded figure rushed each other, bringing up their blades to clash against each other.

"Wh-Who are you?" Sora struggled to say, as he pushed against the stranger.

"Someone from the dark" he said calmly.

Sora and the hooded man jumped to opposite sides of the arena, each panting heavily.

_Someone from the dark? I know many people from the realm of darkness. Ansem, Xemnas, Maleficent...Riku._

"You can't be... Riku" Sora said, almost pleading.

"Riku?" the other man asked, "I defeated a Riku once" he said, still in that calm and familiar voice.

"You what?" Sora yelled in disbelief.

"Tell me...tell me why he picked you!" the hooded man yelled as he charged, dragging his keyblades against the ground creating sparks. He and Sora exchanged many attacks and each one blocked by the other. After some time, Sora was knocked into the air, and hooded man jumped after him. Sora recovered quickly and blocked a downward swipe, sending him back to the Pillar. The hooded man, somehow standing in the air, looked down at Sora, standing right in the middle of four pictures. Each picture was the face of somebody they both knew, but only Sora could feel true feelings for them.

"I see...that's why."

The hooded man again charged at Sora. Sora managed to dodge back, but had to bring his Keyblade up to block as the hooded figure launched a barrage of strikes, one after the other. Sora withstood all he could, but he stumbled and the hooded man knocked the Kingdom Key to the edge of the arena. Sora made a dash for it, but the other man made it there first and used the Oathkeeper to pin the handle of Sora's blade to the ground, while the Oblivion was pointed at Sora.

Nearly out of pure instinct, Sora extended his hand as close as he could to his Keyblade, beckoning it to return to him. The Kingdom Key disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing in Sora's hand. The hooded man could only cry out "What?" before Sora slashed right through him.

The hooded man dropped both his Keyblades, each disappearing in a small flash. He stumbled a couple of steps before falling to one knee, his hood falling off. What was revealed was that the hooded man was not man, but a boy, no older than Sora. Sora only stayed in place and glared angrily at the boy. The young boy looked up and smiled, turning to Sora.

"You make a good other"

* * *

><p>Sora snapped his eyes open, staring into the millions of stars that loomed over every world. He realized that he was leaning against the low hanging paopu tree that he and his friends always hang out at on their private island.<p>

"You make a great other?" Sora asked himself. He stared at his left hand, thinking. _Was this dream a flashback? Or was it something different? It seemed like I was actually fighting him. But, was that even Roxas?_

He was about to get up and leave, but something on his right shoulder weighed him down. It was Kairi, Sora's childhood friend, and the reason he longed to get back home so quickly. Her auburn red-haired head was resting peacefully on his shoulder, her hand in his hand, and she was smiling but still sleeping. Sora was glad he didn't wake her up. He looked around and saw no one else around, the only sound to be heard were the waves crashing on the sand. _Riku must've gone home, _he thought.

"Kairi?" a voice called out.

Sora did his best to turn his head without moving his body, so not to wake up Kairi. He saw a tall man standing right behind the tree he was leaning against. When he looked up at his stern looking face, Sora gulped. It was the mayor, Kairi's father. "Oh...hi Mr. Mayor" Sora chuckled nervously. _I'm so dead._

"I was just curious as to why Kairi didn't come home. I knew that she would be here so this was the first place I checked out" he said in an authoritive voice.

"Oh, we-we were just-um, I-" he struggled to find something to say, "We were just - um - watching the stars and uh-"

Sora stopped when he heard Kairi groan a little bit. She rolled a little bit towards Sora, wrapped her free arm around his chest and nudged her head right under his chin. Sora froze for a second before he looked back up at the mayor. His stern face seemed to focus more on Sora, who gave a nervous smile back. Sora couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't aggravate the mayor. His smile faded when the mayor himself started to smile, and then burst out laughing.

"Sora, you shouldn't be so nervous. I'm not mad at either of you, as long as you bring her home when you're ready. You're the one person in this small world that I find suitable for my daughter. I'm pretty sure, no, entirely certain that you'll make a great husband and father one day. In fact-"

"Wait! What? Father? Who said-why do-"

"Hahaha, relax my boy, I was only joking. I was only speaking the minds of the people who see you and Kairi together nearly all the time. Kairi also doesn't keep being with you a secret from me, she just loves to talk about you."

"She doesn't keep secrets from you?"

"No, I'm her father, one of the people closest to her, but certainly not as close as you." He paused. "If I didn't know Kairi that well, I would say that you and her have already shared a paopu fruit" he said, looking up at the star shaped fruit that intertwined peoples destinies when shared. Sora stared at the fruit too, remembering the drawings he and Kairi made in their secret place.

The mayor broke the silence, "Does she keep secrets from you, Sora?"

"I don't know" Sora said unsurely.

"She shouldn't" the mayor said as he began to walk away "people that close to you should never keep a secret hidden...no matter how awful."

Sora looked down at Kairi and was amazed at how she was still sleeping, even after the 'talk' he and her father had. He thought about the phrase her father just said before he left, '_People that close to you shouldn't keep secrets hidden...no matter how awful.' _It made him think "_Does Kairi have something that she wants as a secret?"_

He stretched out his free arm and summoned his Keyblade, The Kingdom Key. He started to wonder if anyone else kept a secret that included him, for many could, like Master Yen Sid, King Mickey, Riku...Roxas. After mentioning his name, Sora thought of Roxas and his seperate adventures. He closed his eyes and tried to communicate with his Nobody. _"Roxas... do you have any secrets?" _He waited a moment with his eyes closed, hoping for a response, but none came. Eventually the calm and peaceful setting of his home made Sora fall asleep again.

"_I don't," _a voice from within said _"But, someone else in here does"_


	2. Not a dream?

Twilight Town. A peaceful place that has barely been touched by the darkness. The town itself always had a natural gold glow because of the sunset that always hovered above the city. Sora always loved seeing this place, but he missed the stars he saw back home.

"Oh great. Another dream" Sora said to himself as he found himself at the center of Twilight Town. He had just fallen asleep and now he was back at the town where he supposedly slept for an entire year. The streets were bustling with people, and most of them seemed to be heading in the same direction.

"_Wonder what's so important" _Sora thought to himself. He wanted to follow the crowd, but something in his heart kept telling him to go in the opposite direction. As always, he followed this heart. Walking against the crowd, he made his way towards the place where he awoke from his one year slumber, the abandoned mansion.

Further on there was less people, so it was easier for Sora to walk. When he made to the place where the big opening in the wall made the mansion accessible, he didn't believe what he saw. Instead of a hole in the wall, there was an archway and a paved path leading into the woods.

"But... this isn't the way I remembered it! This was just a hole in the wall, that's the way I remember it", he tilted his head in thought. _I thought dreams were supposed to be focused on a persons memory? __Maybe this is just my imagination interfering with my memories. Or...maybe it's my dreams trying to tell me something...again. Might as well see what else has changed._ He then started walking on the pathway towards the mansion, taking note at some of the changes. He noticed that some of the trees were gone, probably because the workers had to remove them in order to make this pathway. He also noticed that there were a lot of flowers planted alongside the road. What he saw next completely stunned him.

The mansion was all fixed up. From the edge of the forest he could tell everything was different. All the excess vegetation had been removed, flowers decorated each and every wall base, the broken pillars littering the courtyard were gone and replaced by statues, and the mansion itself was painted a color resembling beach sand. Above the entrance door, was a portrait of three symbols made out of stained glass, the symbols resembled the Heartless symbol, Nobody symbol, and the Crown. Sora only looked at it for a minute before he made his way to the courtyard. The statues had caught his attention.

The statues were planted in a zig-zag pattern. Each of the thirteen statues seemed to wield a Keyblade, or at least a carving of one, and wore the famous Keyblade Armor that Sora had just earned, although each statue had a different variation of it, both in design and style, as one had what appeared to be a staff, and some had two Keyblades. He also noticed that each statue was standing on a pedestal which had a number and a phrase engraved on it. He read the first one.

'Number II: The Waves that Reach All" he continued reading the rest of the statue's engravings.

'Number III: The Awakened Whirlwind"

'Number IV: The Unyielding Earth'

'Number V: The Non-Existant Heroine'

'Number VI: The Midnight Seraph'

'Number VII: The Delusory Dragoon'

'Number VIII: The Shadow's Assassin'

'Number IX: The Ominous Seer'

'Number X: The Roar of the Rages'

'Number XI: The Wild Liegeman'

'Number XII: The Steeled Castigator'

'Number XIII: The Fleeting Flash'

'Number XIV: The Heroic Spectre'

Sora felt empty inside, as he knew nothing of these Keyblade wielders but felt he should. They were all obviously masters by their acquiring of armor. He was also surprised that there wasn't a number I. He finally decided to check inside, to see what else changed. He walked to the door and made for the-

BAM!

The door flung open, as if by itself, hitting Sora straight on the head, causing him to fall back. He was starting to black out, not out of pain, but as if he was waking up. His vision fading, along with the rest of his senses, the last thing he heard was "Oh my god! I'm sorry, but I'm late and-" and then there was darkness.


	3. New Ways of Transportation

"Ow!" Kairi yelled as Sora sat up very quickly, causing her to roll and hit her head on the tree he was leaning against. Sora seemed oblivious and was simply staring at the sky, which was now cloudy but filled with sunshine.

"Sora! Don't wake me up like that, it hurts!" Kairi yelled as she sat up, holding her head. But Sora still seemed to be concentrating only on the sky, not ever moving as Kairi yelled at him. She crept closer to him and asked "Is something wrong?" in a more quieter tone.

"Nothings wrong." he said while shaking his head, "But, something definitely is up, because I think someone is trying to tell me something through my dreams...again." He stood up and summoned his Keyblade again.

"What are you gonna do?" Kairi asked, standing beside him now.

"I'll be right back." Sora said a little sternly.

"Where are you going?"

"To Twilight Town."

"Why?"

"I feel like somethings different there, and I don't know if it's good or bad."

"Are you going to get Riku?"

"Nah. I'm just gonna check something out and be right back." Sora said while doing one of his goofy smiles. Kairi couldn't stop herself from smiling, but she didn't feel happy inside seeing Sora leave, even for a little bit. She walked up to him, took his free hand and put something in it. Her Oathkeeper.

"Promise?" she asked, almost jokingly.

Sora stared at the charm for a moment. "I promise. But you don't have to give me good luck. I'm only gonna check something and be right back. Nothing will happen." he held it out to her. She merely took it and closed his fingers around it.

"I just want you to have something that will make you come back. I don't want you going off on your next adventure without coming back, so I could see you off" Kairi smiled.

"Oh. So you only want to see me off?" Sora smartly stated. Kairi turned around to hide her slight blushing. She tried to find a response, but was too busy being embarrassed. After a few seconds, Sora spoke up, "Hey, don't worry, of course I'll come right back. Master Yen Sid said he'd summon me and Riku when he was finished. But I promise that I'll be here with you right before I set off to fight Xehanort." Kairi turned back to him and nodded. Sora nodded back, smiling. He turned around and walked to the edge of the small island.

Sora then slammed his fist against the small piece of armor that was fastened to his left shoulder. Kairi shielded her eyes as a great flash of light enveloped Sora. When the light faded, Sora was now fully clad in his Keyblade Armor (_imagine Ventus' armor only different colors)_. His armor was magneficent, with the colors of gold, silver and black, he always shined bright in the sunlight. His cape, which was obsidian black, fluttered in the gentle seabreeze. Sora always wanted a cape.

After a second of admiring his armor, Sora tossed his Keyblade into the air with all his power. It flew out of view, a twinkle was seen, and it came back. But it wasn't Keyblade, it turned into a Keyblade Glider, taking the form of a winged waveboard but still keeping its original Kingdom Key colors of gold and silver. When it came next to Sora, he jumped and did a couple of flips in the air before landing on it. He, piloting his glider, did a few circles around the little island Kairi was standing on. Up above, a portal to the lanes between opened. After a mock salute to Kairi and a loud "WOOOHOOO", Sora disappeared into the portal, closing it behind him.

After he was gone, Kairi's smile disappeared.

* * *

><p>The realms between always had a faint purple glow to it. This route, which was just recently shown to Riku and him, allowed travel to nearly all worlds and was also quicker than Gummi Ship travel. There was also a lack of Heartless in the realms between. To Sora, the only drawback of traveling here was the solitude and silence, except for the hum of his glider. Since Twilight Town was not too far from Destiny Islands, the trip was only a few minutes, so Sora took his time.<p>

While traveling, he decided to try out some Glider attacks, since he couldn't use his Keyblade while riding on it. He did a couple of spinning and lunging attacks at imaginary enemies, going as far to cast some magic on passing by space rubble. After about two minutes of this activity, Sora grew bored and continued to fly normally through the void, casually laying down on his glider.

When he finally caught sight of Twilight Town, something else caught his attention. There seemed to be something else flying off in the distance, most likely in real space and not in the realms between. The strange figure seemed to be a ship, but not one meant for flying, but more for sailing. It strictly resembled the ships Sora had ridden on with Jack Sparrow, or Captain Jack Sparrow as he himself preffered. Those ships were strictly limited to sailing on the sea. How did this one manage to get into space? After a minute or two, Sora shook his head in disbelief. _What is wrong with my head lately? _Sora then forgot all about the ship as he entered the air above Twilight Town.


	4. ReIntroductions

Even in the realm of darkness, there was a beach. This beach was one of the few places that had any sort of light, which was ironic for this world. The water was, in all ways, the same. It sounded the same, felt the same, smelled the same, and looked the same. Even though the darkness was seen as evil by many beings, all of those people would say that this sight was beautiful. But none of this mattered to him.

"This world, forever shrouded in darkness. Yet, there's light, to illuminate its surroundings. How ironic. The darkness requires light, but they do not seem to understand that light needs darkness in equal measure. I almost feel sorry for them." he said in a old craggly voice. He sat on a rock, looking out over the water, not glancing at the two unconscious bodies to his left.

"Shouldn't you be wearing a cloak?" a much younger voice asked behind him. The figure that questioned this man was wearing the black cloak that protected the wearer from the darkness. But the sitting man mearly shook his head.

"I am embracing the darkness around me. With that cloak, I wouldn't be able to become as powerful as I seek to be in order to accomplish my goal." he said, slowly. He stood up and faced the cloaked man, who stood amongst seven other cloaked figures. The hooded one who spoke was familiar with this old man, but the six others knew who he was by name, but not in any other way. All eight of the hooded figures had their weapons drawn, for they had just recently defeated the female Keyblader and old man. Among those weapons were: two Arrowguns, a pair of Lances, a Shield of Ice, an Axe Sword, a Spiked Claymore, a Sitar, a Scythe, and Wrist mounted Knives.

"So who's here and who's not?" the old man asked. All the hooded figures took their hoods off simultaneously, showing their faces. The old man smiled and named off the figures by their real names. "Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, Isa, Myde, Lumaira, and Relena. So you have stayed loyal even after you regained...wait. Some of you don't have your hearts yet, I can sense it." He eyed four of the people, Dilan, Aeleus, Isa and Relena.

"You wish to find your hearts?" he asked all of them. Dilan, Aeleus, and Isa nodded, but Relena frowned and looked off to the side. The old man noticed her and walked over. "You're a first. A nobody who does not want her heart back. I'm certain I want to hear as to why, Relena."

"The name's Larxene, you old bag" she sternly, not looking at him. "The reason I don't want my heart back, is because while I had one, I felt miserable. When my world was consumed by darkness, thanks to your heartless, a certain 'friend' of mine said she'd never leave me behind. But guess what happened." She unkowingly was clenching her fist during her explanation.

"Is that all?" the old man asked.

"Look Xehanort!" she snapped turning to the old man, "I don't care how tragic your story is. But to me, being left behind by the only person you trust is one of the most horrible things that can happen. I was left in the darkness for who knows how long before I was found by Xigbar"

"The name's Braig!"

"I love your anger" Xehanort spoke, "I think you'll be very helpful in achieving my goal"

"What makes you think I'll help you?"

"Because you have nothing without me." Xehanort stated smartly, turning around, walking towards the two bodies still lying unconscious on the shore.

"I'm a Nobody, I already have nothing" Larxene said, in gloomier tone.

"Yes. But when I rule it all, I'll give all my loyal followers somethings they deserve, somethings they desire" Xehanort leisurely picking up the Keyblade that laid next to the blue-haired female on the ground.

"What is that one thing you'll give each of us?" Even spoke up, speaking what the rest of the group was thinking.

Xehanort swung the Keyblade in a skillful way before planting it into the ground. Holding out his hand, and in a flash of black fire, his Keyblade appeared. Without warning he disappeared, only to reappear behind Even. Before anything else could happen, he plunged his Keyblade through Even's back, all the way out the front. Even let out a cry of pain, before his entire being was sucked into the Keyblade.

All the other members backed off from where Even used to be standing. Xehanort let out a small chuckle.

"So our prize is...death?" Myde asked, obviously scared.

"No. Your prizes are the two things that Even doesn't have anymore, freedom and his life." Xehanort said grinning.

"Freedom?" Dilan asked.

Xehanort held out his Keyblade, not threatening anyone. "Listen" is all Xehanort said. All of them got a little closer to the Keyblade, not knowing what to expect. They leaned close, but not too close.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGH"

They all jumped back at the blood curdling scream. They knew it was Even who screamed, but they didn't know where he was. While they stood there stunned, Xehanort let out a satisfied laugh. They looked at him, confused.

"You're all wondering where Even is." He said as if he's asking. "Well, he's in my Keyblade" , he held it out, showing it off.

"How did you do that?" Aeleus asked.

"That's a story for another time, we're already behind schedule. Oh, and the other reason I killed Even is because we needed one more space open." he then held up his hand, and five dark portals opened. Each portal had one figure step out. All were wearing the black cloak, except for one, but his outfit and skin seemed to be the same shade of black.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet our newest members in Organization XIII. Vextos, The Soulles Iron. Mythotix, The Cunning Beast. Xita, The Seductive Spy. Baxtor, The Bloodthirsty Giant. And Xerbozus, The Remnant of a Cold Heart."

Vextos was as tall as most of the members of Organization XIII. He had a slightly bigger build from the looks of it. He had a short cut hair, a relaxed look on his face, and for some reason wore glasses. He donned off his hood and did a slight head bow "Pleasure to be on the winning side."

Mythotix was identical to Vextos in every way, with the exception that his face was less rounded, he didn't wear glasses, and his face always had a stern look on it that never went away. He took off his hood and merely said "Sup"

Baxtor was, surpisingly, a giant. He was two heads taller than Aeleus and was just as bulkier. What a strong man like him was doing under Xehanorts command, not one could know. Without taking off his hood, he let out a small chuckle before doing a full bow.

Xita was truly beautiful woman. Her long charcoal black hair flowed down her back to her waist. Her body was the ideal figure all woman hoped, slender but brimming with health. She had dark brown eyes, and with those she winked towards Marluxia "Good to be with all of you"

Xerbozus remained quiet with his arms crossed, leaning against a tall rock. He wore what appeared to be armor on the front part of his body, his fore-arms had spiked protectors on them, he had mask covering his nose and mouth, and his eyes had a pale white glow. His presence seemed... not right to everyone.

"What's the plan?" Braig asked after looking through the newe recruits.

"That's for me to know right now, but trust me, it'll all work out if you do as I say.", he then formed twelve black cards in his hand and tossed one to everyone around, each of them catching it and reading it.

"Each of these cards have an assignment for you. Follow them. When the task is completed report to me. Disobey, and you'll have a chat with Even." he instructed with a little grin. "Before we start, Aeleus and Dilan," pointing towards the two unconscious people, "bring them to the dungeon in Radiant Garden, and make sure you have her Keyblade." They nodded and proceeded.

"For now, I bid you adue, my loyal companions" Xehanort said as he, Aeleus, and Dilan disappeared in the same portal. The rest of the newly revived Organization members also opened their portals to their respective mission destinations. After a moment, the realm of darkness was back to the way it was before this conversation occured.

Silent.


	5. Fear, Hunger and Anger

It had been a while since Sora left. Kairi hasn't smiled since then. She stood for an uncertain amount of time, staring at where the portal was when Sora disappeared, once again feeling like he was going to be gone for a much longer time. When she finally turned to leave, she had a weird feeling in her chest. She, being a princess of heart, could sense the darkness around. Since her home was a place forever illuminated by the light, any presence of darkness was obvious. Kairi looked around the small island and saw nothing. She made her way to the beach and saw someone sitting at the edge of the docks, looking out towards the horizon. The person had very spiky hair, but that's all Kairi could make out of the figure. The figure seemed very familiar to her.

"Sora?" she asked the man.

"Maybe" he responded almost instantly in a familiar carefree voice.

Curiously, Kairi made her way closer to the dock, trying to get a glimpse at the boys face with each step. When she made it to the first step at the dock, the man turned to face her. Kairi's eyes widened as she saw the details of the man. He looked like Sora, in everyway Kairi remembered. His hair was just as spiky, his skin had the same beach color Sora had, and his smile...was also the same. What was different was the man's hair and eyes and his uniform. His hair was jet black instead of brown, and his eyes were a sickly yellow, representing his allegiance with the darkness. His outfit resembled a bright red and black organic-looking bodysuit.

"Why hello, Kairi" the Sora look alike mockingly said, while bowing to her.

Kairi simply stood there, not knowing what to expect. "Who are you? Why are you here?" she asked.

"I'm came back to you, my princess. Just like I promised." he said standing up. He started to walk over to her, but she moved away at the same pace. In an instant, the man vanished in a blur. Kairi flinched at the sudden 'Whoosh!" sound that followed.

"Now, now. Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you." a voice from nowhere called. Kairi spun around, but saw no one. She kept looking around her for the source of the voice.

"I'm not scared of you!" she lied.

"Oh, Kairi. That hurts. Why would you be afraid of me?" the voice called out again, sarcastically.

"I'm not! Who are you?"

"You don't remember me?"

"You're from the darkness. Why would I want to remember you?"

The boy suddenly appeared in front of her in a flurry of black flames. "I'm not from the darkness, I just embraced it so I could come back to you." his voice sounded more pleading. "Please Kairi, don't treat me like this."

Kairi could only stare in confusion at the boys statements. He held out his hand, gesturing her to take it. Instead she held her arms at her sides, openly showing her refusal. The stranger slowly dropped his hand and brought it to a fist on his chest, tilting his head down. "Is it because I changed?" he whispered loud enough for her to hear. She still stood there confused, feeling those words were familiar to her.

"Is it?" he asked again.

"I..I..I don't know what you're...talking about" she stammered, while still trying to think.

The boy looked at her with what appeared to be pain in his eyes, something Kairi never expected to see. He produced a orb looking object made of darkness, and in a few seconds his blood red organic suit disappeared into the orb and revealed what he whore underneath it. A short black jacket, black shorts with useless yellow straps around them, a blue and red under shirt, and the crown necklace, everything Sora wore. Kairi let out a small gasp as his hair turned from jet black to a caramel color. After his transformation was finished, he opened his eyes and smiled, not opening his mouth.

"Sor-" she almost cried out. But she noticed his eyes. His eyes weren't the color of the eternal blue sky that Sora always had. They were still that sickly yellow that the man showed when he first met her eyes. "You're not Sora. Stop playing games with me!" she demanded. The boy's face turned instantly to an expression of anguish.

"Please Kairi. It really is me, Sora. Why can't you see that?" he pleaded.

'No...your eyes...they're-"

"They might have changed, but it's still me"

"You can't be him. You're-"

"Stop!" the dark Sora exclaimed. And as he did so, his skin around his arms and legs became ink black and pure darkness seemed to seep out of it in a form of mist. His hands were especially coated, turning his hands into pitch black claws.

"He was right about you Kairi" Sora mumbled in a depressed manner.

"What?" Kairi asked, not fully hearing him. "Who?"

"Xehanort" Sora said flatly, noticing Kairi flinch a little at the name. She never knew Xehanort, but from what Sora had told her, she at least knew that he was the original person from the two beings that had caused all the trouble in their past adventures.

"What did he say to you?" Kairi asked, feeling the smallest bit of guilt.

"Does it matter? You're exactly the way he said you would be. Scared" Sora said monotonly. He started making his way towards her, dragging his feet. Kairi backed a few steps until she came under a shadow. She found herself under the bridge that went to the smaller island. Sora was only a few feet away.

"Why are you pushing me away? I thought you..." his voiced trailed out. He looked directly into her eyes, his own glaring with sorrow and anger.

"You never loved me, did you?" he asked, growling a bit. Kairi gasped and her eyes widened at the comment. She stepped back a bit further, only to lose her footing and fall on her rear, not taking her eyes off Sora. She couldn't believe what she just heard. It's true that she loved Sora as a friend and Riku as well, but her feelings for Sora seemed to expand more than her relationship with Riku. But the way the 'Sora' said it, made it seem he knew that she had more feelings for him. She didn't know whether to deny it or agree with him. She also didn't know if he...

After about a minute of silence, Sora spoke up in a growl. "I can't believe I thought you did. Guess that was my fault, for thinking a **princess of light,** could even like someone with so much darkness in them from the beginning. Yet...you like Riku. You must really like him to see past his darkness, but you must not feel the same for me. I'm showing you the darkness in me, and you look at me with disgust. That's real messed up." The darkness that was on his arms and legs started to spread, starting to cover his face. It even covered his hair, which was now getting darker than before. His eyes were covered in some yellow substance, making them glow and look deamonic.

Kairi couldn't move. She couldn't take her eyes of him. He was what she always feared, and what she feared was in Sora all along. She could hear the words he was growling, but wasn't actually listening.

He bent down, now using his claws and feet to steady himself in a feral position. Pure darkness was seeping from him, spreading into the air and ground. The sand around him looked like it was dying, turning from it's once golden gem colors, to a lifeless ash grey. The air also seemed to die as well. It lost its natural sea-salt taste, and became an unbreathable smog. He seemed to make a low roaring sound, showing that his teeth were also covered in that black ink substance, even sharpening them. In the same blur as before, he disappeared while Kairi let out a gasp. Before she could even think of a reaction, he appeared upon the bridge above her, still in that feral position with his eyes glaring into her very soul.

"Tell me..._Kairi..._is your heart really void of darkness? Because right now, the way your treating me is kind of..._heartless_. Treating me like I'm a _Nobody_" he growled more than spoke.

Kairi only let out a another raspy gasp in response. Right after this, 'Sora' jumped high in the air, higher than he could normal jump. When he came down, he somehow landed without making a sound or making the sand beneath his hands and feet shift at all. The only sound was a surprised shriek from Kairi as he was now sprawled on top of her, his clawed limbs supporting his much bigger body over her smaller frame.

He kept his face hovering inches above hers, as if he was trying to study her. A constant growl was emanating from the back of his throat. His nose was moving slightly, though unnoticeable, as if it were inhaling her natural bodily aroma. Kairi's breathing became staggered and quick, due to her fear of this 'Sora' and fear of whatever he was going to do next. What he did do next didn't scare her, but surprised her. He turned his head and lowered it down to rest on her chest, his ear now listening to her heart that beated so fast, as if it were trying to escape her ribcage. Kairi's awareness of what he was doing didn't sooth her heartbeat in the least.

"You're heart...it's beating... so fast" he growled slowly before bringing his face to be parallel with hers, "Are you scared?"

"S-Sora..."

"So I am Sora now?" he asked, seemingly sarcastic. "You really do believe it's the real me, huh? I'm so... FLATTERED!"

As if on cue, an explosion of darkness erupted behind where he was crouching above her. With Sora blocking her vision, Kairi could barely make out what occurred behind him. All she could see was a big inky black hole form a couple meters from their position, anything that was next to it seemed to be devoured by it, and a small trail of pure darkness stretched to where Sora's feet were planted, as if it were attached to him. This particular hole didn't seem to be a hole at all, but rather a portal, for some shapes that resembled claws began to emerge out of the portal hole. The claws were just as black as the portal, making them seem invisible at first. But, for each pair of claws that emersed from the portal, a pair of big glowing yellow eyes came up along with it. As said claws brought up whatever body they were attached to above the surface of the portal, Kairi could now without a doubt tell what these creatures were.

_Heartless_

Neoshadows to be exact. They surrounded her now, moving side to side in some sort of macabre dance, but their all their eyes were on her. Kairi was beginning to panic as 'Sora' began to chuckle. What should she do? Sora was gone, she didn't know where Riku was, and since she was on their play island, no one would hear her from the mainland. Then, she remembered that she had a Keyblade, and was now quite skilled because of her training. After mentally slapping herself, she stretched out her hand to the side and summoned her Keyblade; Destiny's Embrace. The heartless around her instantly flinched and jumped back from the legendary weapon, even 'Sora jumped off of Kairi. "A Keyblade?"

"You see?" Kairi said as she stood up, "You're afraid now because I have a Keyblade, and Sora isn't scared of anything!"

'Sora' stood up and chuckled, "Not scared of anything? Ohoho, my dear princess. You have no idea how much you scare him"

Kairi tightened her grip on her Keyblade, "What do you mean afraid of me? I'm his-"

"Origin of deepest fears." Sora finished, "What he's afraid of won't physically hurt him but it will hurt him nonetheless." 'Sora' began to hold out his hand, but a portal opened up behind him. He turned towards the portal as a figure stepped out. Kairi was watching and noticed that this figure was dressed in the same organic suit that this 'Sora' was wearing at the docks, the only difference being that wherever there was supposed to be red, there was white, and his head was shielded by a black mask. The figure that strode out strutted quickly to whisper something in 'Sora's ear.

"Really?" 'Sora' asked, loud enough for Kairi to hear. The figure nodded. 'Sora' turned back to Kairi, "Seems like my fun is over." With another snap of the fingers, 'Sora' receded back from his pure dark form to his organic red and black suit, with his hair dark and eyes yellow, and the heartless disappeared along with the portal.

"Who are you really?" Kairi yelled, as 'Sora' and the figure strode towards the portal.

"I'm Sora" he said flatly.

"Seriously!"

"Okay okay" he chuckled. He turned to Kairi, and even from a distance, she could see how his eyes were vertically narrow, like a snake. "My name..."

He turned and entered the portal-

"...is Fear"

* * *

><p>Riku slashed at the tree again, leaving another slash mark to go with the other thousand. This was boring. Attacking inanimate objects wasn't as challenging as nobodies or heartless or dream eaters, nor was it as fun. He wouldn't even mind if his world was attacked by a group of heartless right now, just to alleviate the boredom.<p>

"Can't get stronger like this." he said to...well, no one. He was alone in the forest on the mainland. The combination of beach scents and forest aromas rendered his nose useless. He reversed his grip on his Keyblade, Way to Dawn, and turned in a quick one-eighty, releasing the weapon in a spinning attack that homed in on a tree, embedding itself deep into it.

_Again_

Instead of walking over to retrieve it, he merely held out his hand and called it back to him. Once it was back in his grip, he slashed through a dozen thick branches to his right, effortlessly.

_Again!_

Riku looked up and saw that the sun was nearly eclipsed by the hundreds of branches above. He jumped up and disappeared in a blur, and came back onto the ground in mere seconds. After a heartbeat, the branches above disintegrated into dust that didn't even fall, just followed the wind. Now the sun shined on him like a spotlight.

_AGAIN!_

Riku turned around and found an unharmed tree. That had to change. Instead of slashing it, he decided his magic needed some work. He pointed the blade at the tree and started to gather energy at the tip. He wanted to try to get the energy ball as big as possible, in lieu of smaller blasts that he was used. More and more energy poured into the cerulean orb at the tip of his blade, expanding the bubble till it was the size of a blitzball. He wanted it bigger. He now added darkness into the mix, turning the orb of light into the symbol of light and darkness, twilight. The orb now swirled the colors of white and black, creating gusts of wind that blew in all directions. The orb was now the size of an exercise ball, and its weight was more noticeable.

"There we go!" Riku yelled as he finally released the attack. The ball surged forth at such a speed that contact with the tree was near instant. Riku fell back at the following explosion that engulfed the tree, and was surprised that the whole tree was now a smoldering crater. But was slightly disappointed that nothing else was damaged.

_AGAIN!_

'Where was that voice coming from? How come it took me this long to notice?', Riku questioned in his head. He remembered hearing the voice earlier, telling him to continue his workout (he couldn't necessarily call it training). Now that he thought about it, the voice had been there while, whispering in his ear, yet he was alone here.

"Okay" he said looking around, "How about you show yourself so you can tell me why I should keep going?"

_...Nope._

"Then how about you at least tell me your name. I like to say the name of people who are starting to piss me off." Riku said to everything around him.

_My name is of no importance._

"Oh so you can talk normally" Riku mocked.

_Get back to training._

"It's not training since I'm not learning anything." Riku said again sitting down.

_Training, working out, practicing; it matters not what you call it, it still has the same purpose._

"And what is that purpose?" Riku asked, getting uneasy.

_-Sating your hunger._

"Hunger?"

_You_ _called?_

"Is that your name? Well it's not nice meeting you. So what hunger am I sating?" Riku got back up and started walking towards home.

_Your hunger for power._

This time the omnipresent voice now had source of origin, not too far from Riku. He turned his head to the right, his emerald eyes meeting a pair of yellow counterparts. Riku jumped back and held his Keyblade in his battle stance. The source of the voice, who was hiding in a bush, strode casually out towards Riku. Riku studied his familiar attire; a organic suit with black the most dominant color and the color of a sickly green outlining his forearms, crotch, and abdomen, a skirt-like piece of clothing, and a black dome helmet shielding his head.

"So, do I get the honor of an actual battle?", sarcasm was prominent in Riku's question.

"Oh yeah" the man named Hunger replied slowly. But he made no move for a weapon, or any sort of movement.

"So do I initiate the attack?" Riku prepared to strike.

"Why attack me? I thought you would fight for something more important." Hunger replied after a chuckle.

"Important as in..?"

"Oh, she's just a girl that you've known forever and has another Keyblader in her possessive little hands." Hunger drawled.

"Don't talk about Kairi like that." Riku spat.

"You're actually happy your two best friends got together and left you alone?"

"Yes, because I'm not alone." Riku gritted his teeth.

"Oh really? Look there." Hunger pointed towards the sky. Riku stared up, his guard down because Hunger had no intent in fighting him. Near the high-noon sun, he saw a portal. And near that portal, circling around it, was Sora. Before Riku could actually respond to what he saw, Sora disappeared into the portal.

"If her boy-toy is gone, who will protect her from my scary friend?" Hunger said, now walking backwards.

"Who's this friend?" Riku yelled pointing his weapon.

A portal opened up behind Hunger, and he spoke as he disappeared into the darkness, "Just...a very scary guy...Aloha~" he taunted in their native language.

Riku stood for only a moment, contemplating on who this man could be. Obviously one from darkness, but he knew of the native language of their world, and that outfit seemed so-

That was enough. He spoke of how his friend was after Kairi, and if Sora wasn't here, for whatever reason, Riku would protect her. He withdrew his Keyblade and sprinted for the docks, because he knew that Sora and Kairi were at the play island all night, and she would probably still be there, she was always there when Sora left. Even though Kairi could defend herself to an extent, Riku was a Keyblade Master, and had much more advanced abilities, and Sora usually protested in anything that had to do with Kairi getting hurt. Riku wanted to keep her safe, because at one point when Kairi was injured in a scrimmage against him, he felt a huge fluctuation of darkness within Sora. And if Sora came home to an injured Kairi, Riku was sure that darkness wouldn't_ just _fluctuate.

* * *

><p>Sora grunted and yelled in pain as he bounced across the stone pavement of Market Street like a flat rock that was flicked with expertise over a body of water. The bricked road colliding with the adamantium Keyblade Armor generated sparks that seemed to be twice as large as normal sparks generated from scraping metal. In addition, chunks of stone flew in all directions with each bounce, and the citizens naturally screamed in shock, some had to multi-task as they also had to jump out of the way of the incoming living meteor.<p>

Unfortunately, even if she tried, the young lass who owned the candy shop just west of the moogle shop could not get out of her store in time to avoid the incoming devastation. So she opted for best action, if only for reassurance; duck below the counter and wait to see what would happen. She waited for the inevitable destruction of her property, from the front desk to the candy stored in the back, and although the most of the candy back there was stale, her customers didn't know that. She kept on waiting, until she noticed that she'd been waiting for about a minute and nothing happened, and the only noise was now the murmurs of the townspeople. She looked over her counter to peek at what had stopped it, and saw nothing but a trail of scattered brick. Her green eyes followed the trail that continued in her direction and saw that it made it all the way to-

*THUD*

She squealed and stepped back as an armored glove reached up and smacked the counter with great force. Using his hand as a personal loader, Sora hefted himself up and staggered to his feet and rested on his arms on the counter, breathing heavily. Behind his visor, his sky blue eyes found the shaking form of the store owner; a pretty good looking young woman with blonde hair, green eyes, and was the same height of Kairi. Never being one to purposely scare someone beyond a prank, Sora thought he best ought to calm her down.

"Hey," he said quietly, "Don't be afraid. I only came for some Ice Cream."

She was quiet for a moment before breathing out, "...What?"

"Sea Salt Ice Cream if you have it" Sora said plainly, pulling out a munny pouch. "How much?"

"Uh...f-five munny" she stammered, not believing his request, but he did pull out five golden cubes of currency and handed it over. With a couple of glances back, she stepped over to her freezer and pulled out the desired flavor, all wrapped up with plastic and embroidered with the weird duck symbol that served as it's mascot. She took his munny and handed over the ice cream. With a little magic, his armor disappeared and was now dressed in his usual attire. He stood there, relishing in the first taste of the ice cream as it turned from a cringing salty taste to a sweet mouthwatering waterfall down his throat. He turned his head, looking for the building he crashed into that caused him to be tossed like a ragdoll, hoping his glider would have dissipated to hide any form of the Keyblade from any civilian. He saw the mangled corner of the clocktower but no glider, so he concluded it must have disappeared. While standing there, the shop owner's eyes had a slight sparkle in them as she looked upon the good looking boy in front of her. Though she was a few years older, she admired the well developed yet lean figure Sora achieved, especially since he was only wearing his short black jacket with nothing beneath. Her train of thought had blurred as her imagination began to fill with images of-

"Something wrong?" Sora asked, noticing her stare.

"Oh? Um, uh, no. But...who are you?" she asked, turning to hide her blush.

"I'm Sora." he grinned. "Not meaning to eat and run, but do you know Hayner, Pence, and/or Olette?"

"Oh yes. I haven't seen Olette today, but Hayner and Pence headed towards the sandlot about half an hour ago."

"Thanks" Sora said, "And sorry about the mess."

"It's due for re-pavement anyways." Jesse, the owner, chuckled.

"Glad I could help in some way then." Sora chuckled back as he made his way towards the sandlot, ignoring the; multitude of stares, hushed whispers which were obviously about him, and the admiring sigh of Jesse.

...

...

[Background Music: KH2 OST Afternoon Streets]

Sora took reduced strides as he took the down ramp towards the sandlot. Thankfully no one past Market Street saw his entrance and the rest of the town walked by uninterested in the, unknown to them, Keybearer. Hardly anyone was even walking outside today.

Sora let the Popsicle stick hang from his clenched teeth as he looked for a trashcan. When he got to the sandlot, he didn't find a trashcan, but he did find trash.

Hayner fell back on his arse as his lunge was blocked again. His struggle bat was still held in his firm grasp, despite having no chance of bringing up an attack as Seifer brought his bat up to hold the end towards his neck.

"C'mon," he taunted. "If you didn't do it, you would've fought harder."

"I didn't do it and everybody knows it. The only thing I need to defend myself from is you ya jerk!" Hayner objected.

Sora watched from around a corner, and saw that Seifer was backed up by Fuu and Rai, even though they didn't have any weapons. What they did have was Pence, held tight in Rai's chokehold. Sora also noticed that Hayner and Pence's attire was similar to that of his home, some sort of beach wear like skin tight wetsuit and a shirt with trunks respectively. Seifer and his 'Disciplinary Committee' wore only their normal clothes.

At nearly every instance like this, Sora would jump right in to help his friends. But, his many experiences in battle taught him to wait just a little bit so he knows if his friend really needs defending.

_Are you not mad he's beating your friend?_

Sora jumped a bit at the voice and turned around to see a man the same height of him. He was wearing a skin-tight organic looking suit, nearly all black except for his forearms, abdomen, and cup area which were a deep maroon. His face was entirely covered in a black dome helmet with a silver chin guard, and around his waist was a skirt like piece of clothing, colored in the shades of his suit.

Sora instinctively withdrew his Keyblade and held the teeth at the neck of the unarmed threat. "Are you mad at that?"

"Kind of." He stated plainly.

"Why would you care what happens to him?" Sora asked, pressing the Keyblade more onto his throat.

"I'm surprised you don't. Would you only care if it was Kairi who was-" the man was cutoff as Sora now did a full push with his Keyblade, sending the man stumbling back.

"Don't you even talk about Kairi being in danger." Sora growled between clenched teeth. "Who are you anyway?".

"Getting angry, aren't we?" he taunted.

"I'm pretty sure I'm angry already." Sora stated, holding his Keyblade up.

"Hehe. So you're becoming like me already." He sounded satisfied.

"I'd like to know who I am becoming, if you don't mind." Sora now held the teeth of the blade at his throat again.

"I'm Angry" he said plainly.

"Angry about what?"

"No. I…am…Angry. My name is ANGRY!" he shouted angrily. Sora stepped back a bit at the loud voice.

"Sora?"

Sora turned to Pence, who said his name aloud, gaining the attention of everyone. He took a glance back at where Anger was, but he disappeared, leaving no signs of his existence. _Could I have imagined him?_ Sora thought. It made sense since no one seemed to hear Anger's yell. He turned his attention back to Pence and Hayner, and strode a couple steps.

"Good to see you guys again." He said. "What seems to be the problem?"

"You gonna fight for these chicken wusses?" Seifer now pointed his bat at Sora, who just now realized he still had his Keyblade out. Sora ignored him and asked Hayner. "What did you do?"

"We didn't do anything!" Hayner yelled getting up. "Some people turn up injured and they automatically blame us."

"Do you have proof?" Sora asked him.

"What proof do I need? And who are you wandering in and acting like you know what happened? Maybe it was you." Seifer accused.

"Yeah, you outsiders are always pickin' fights ya'know." Rai yelled letting Pence go.

"Agitated." Fuu monotonously added.

Seifer than stepped up and brought up his bat to swing. His form was pathetic and Sora easily read his attack pattern. Seifer brought the bat down, only for it to be blocked by Sora. In an instant, Sora swept his Keyblade under Seifer's feet, causing him to fall on his back. Rai came forward with mighty swing of the fist. Sora ducked and merely used his foot to trip him sending him sprawling on the ground face first. Fuu charged forward with a struggle cutlass that she took from out of nowhere. She went for a sideswipe, but Sora's enhanced senses easily blocked it. But he didn't strike back instantly, because he felt some sort of familiar aura of power from Fuu. A power that he encountered before, but not commonly. _This power…._ He was brought back to real time as Fuu tried a strike again, this time for his head. Sora blocked with his hand, grabbing the struggle item, and tore it from Fuu's grip. Weaponless, Fuu merely stood where she was disarmed.

"I think my friends are innocent." Sora said all witty like, dropping the cutlass and dismissing his Keyblade. Seifer groaned as he stood up, but Rai only groaned.

"Whatever." Seifer left towards where Sora came from. Rai got up and jogged to keep pace with Seifer. Fuu stood for a moment, studying Sora, before she left off with Seifer also.

"Thanks man. You really are skilled." Hayner patted Sora's back.

"You should join the Struggle Tournament. It's in two weeks. You'd clean up." Pence added.

"Thanks. But I'm actually here on business." Sora smiled solemnly. "Has anything out of the ordinary happened?"

"Only the people who got attacked. They were only normal people. I don't know who would attack them and why." Pence explained.

"And we only heard that they got attacked. We don't know how injured they are." Hayner added.

"What about any ordinary changes. Like anything new about the old mansion?" Sora decided ask.

"Nothing like that." Pence and Hayner said at the same time. Sora crossed his arms in though. _That mansion looked different in my dream, whether it be future or past. Got to check it out anyway._

"I'm heading there now. I've got to check it out myself. Come to think of it, where's Olette?" Sora began to walk towards the hole that lead to the mansion.

"She's on her way back; we all went to the beach for the last day of summer." Hayner said.

"Last day of Summer?" Sora turned back to them hysterically. "Oh man! I forgot! School starts tomorrow! Ugh, what a day to check on something." Sora groaned, kicking his feet on the ground. "Look, now that I know this, I've got to hurry. So I'll see ya guys later." And with that Sora sprinted off.

"Hey! We're gonna meet up with Olette and meet up with you soon!" Hayner yelled at the fleeting form of Sora.

Sora didn't hear him. He was now sprinting madly down the street he was near positive lead to the mansion, or at least the small hole that provided a path to the mansion. Due to his all-out sprint, Sora made it there in seconds. Without even so much as a pant, Sora stood in front of the crooked and cragged hole in the wall.

"Looks like it's the same as before." Sora said to himself. A flash of the how the entrance looked in his dreams passed in front of Sora's eyes. He remembered how it was fixed in an arch with many decorative symbols around it, but the symbols were blurred because Sora never really stapled the look of them in his head. He then noticed that the hole in the wall in his dream was bigger than the disfigured hole in front of him, enabling him to draw a conclusion that his dream was a vision of the future, because more of the wall had to be removed in order to make the archway. _A pretty witty thought, if I do say so myself._

After making that mental comment, he decided to walk a bit slowly as he exited the town and entered the forest. Nothing was new there also. Sure the forest was now a different shade altogether, a mix of darkened brown and honeyed gold as the nature of summer was technically over and fall was the reigning season, but that seemed to be the only difference. Sora did not like being reminded it was no longer summer.

With a glance left and right, Sora strode on the non-linear path towards the mansion, whose roof was in plain view. Now thinking about, Sora never actually took more than a passing glance at his surroundings, even on his journeys before. So studying the environment around him made him did not feel like déjà vu, but rather a newcomer who is now laying his first eyes on the forest. Rounding a tree he thought he saw something moving, so he rounded a bit further to look for-

"AAAAAAAH!"  
>"AAAAAH!<br>"AAAAH!"  
>"AAAH!"<br>**"AAAAAH!"**

After the back and forth of screams from the short black creature and Sora, he took a step back and looked over the short person with blacker than black skin and piercing yellow eyes. _A Heartless? No. Heartless don't scream, in fear at least._

"Oh hey, you're that guy that helped Siefer with those monsters that time back." Vivi said, halting his shivering.

"Um." Sora didn't know how to proceed, mostly because he didn't know his name.

"I'm Vivi. I don't think I've said my name last time." Vivi held out his hand for a shake, which Sora happily returned.

"Nice to meet ya. And what are you doing out in the woods by yourself?"

"I was training, to be strong. Like Seifer." Vivi admitted, as if he was embarrassed. Sora then noticed the struggle bat that was not too far from where Vivi was standing, probably flew over there when he unintentionally scared Vivi. That's the eighty-seventh person today.

"Sorry I scared you like that." Sora apologized.

"Don't mention it." Vivi happily said.

"Anyways, sorry, I really got to get going." Sora hastily added, remembering his mission. He already started towards the mansion, which was now nearly in full view.

"Be careful up there!" Vivi yelled at Sora, whose pace was quick. "That scary man in the black robe went that way also!", and with that Vivi casually walked back towards town, while Sora froze at Vivi's words.

_Man in a black coat._

Although vague in description, Sora knew what kind of people wore that kind of outfit. Organization XIII. Could they really be here? Sora now sprinted up the slope towards the front gate of the mansion. The gate was wide open, the mansion and the walls around it were old and decaying, just like before. Nothing had changed.

Except for the tall, skinny man walking towards the actual front doors. His hood was off, and Sora clearly saw the long ponytail of black and grey hair. He also noticed the man's slightly pointed ears, and the all too recognizable strap of an eye patch that a certain sharpshooter wore.

"XIGBAR!"


	6. Secrets Discovered

Riku quickly jumped out of his boat that provided transportation to the miniature play-island and tied it to the dock. Quickly he jogged down the dock then onto the beach, his Keyblade withdrawn and ready for anything. He saw small rifts in the sand at the point under the wooden bridge; obvious signs of a scuffle. He also noticed a familiar scent in the air. It reeked of malicious anger, unstoppable lust, and overwhelming fear; the stench of darkness. That didn't worry him as much as it used to. What did worry him was the lack of attendance of a certain Princess-of-Heart.

"Kairi! Where are you?" No response.

Shifting his eyes around his entire line of sight, Riku searched all around for Kairi. Concluding she wasn't anywhere on the beach, Riku decided to take his search everywhere else. She wasn't on the smaller island, not in the big tree house, not on the wooden balcony, not in the shack, not at the rear of the island, and her and Sora's boat was still at the dock. _Where could she be?_

He found himself back at the docks, breathing heavily from jogging everywhere and his mind was still trying to discern Kairi's location. Then, he heard the smallest of sounds; a light sigh. How he picked up that small mewl over the howling sea winds was a mystery he didn't care to solve. He turned to where the voice seemingly came from and saw only thick vegetation. A normal person would just look for another source, but Riku was beyond normal and knew that the true treasures are hidden.

After making his way to the intense vegetation, he had an intense dose of deja vu.

"Oh yeah. This was that secret cave that Sora and I found when we were kids" He also remembered how to get into the cave entrance. He moved the giant leaf up so that he may go under it, and pushed aside the lifa branch so that the entire cave entrance could be revealed. Since he was extremely tall, Riku had to crawl on all fours to enter the cramped and damp cavern. He heard another sigh, this time louder and in a sad tone, and it was most definitively a girl. Riku crawled as quietly as possible, in order to see why this girl, which was most likely Kairi, was sadly sighing. Finally reaching around the bend a couple feet down, Riku took this opportunity to stand up, albeit quietly, and quickly spotted the image of Kairi huddled in one corner of the cave, her body hiding whatever she was staring at.

Tiptoeing as quietly as possible, Riku got closer to Kairi, the image on the wall becoming more clear. All he could make out at first was a near-perfect image of Sora, along with a horrible drawn head of Kairi. Still getting closer without Kairi noticing, Riku now was actually on his tiptoes, trying to look over Kairi's head. Once he was right behind her, the full image came to view.

Each of the drawings; Sora and Kairi, had hands reaching out towards the other, a paopu fruit held in each hand. Kairi sighed again, her hand brushing over the drawing of Sora. _Wonder why she's all…sad like._

Riku squatted down and held his breath, inching his mouth closer to Kairi's ear. Once he was only centimeters away, he let out in a quiet breath, "What's that?"

"_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUU UUGH!"**_

* * *

><p>"Hey I'm talking to you!" Sora yelled at the sharpshooter.<p>

"Huh?" Xigbar said looking around. Once his eyes, er- eye, fell upon Sora, he smirked a sickening grin.

"Well, if it isn't mister poser. Man, do you always have that angry look on your face, or is it stuck like that?" he said chuckling.

"Shut up!" Sora yelled, withdrawing his Keyblade. "What are you doing here? Have you been hurting the people?"

"Hurting people? As if." Xigbar replied, turning his gaze back to the mansion. "I'm just looking for something."

"And what would that be?"

"Like I'll tell you." He replied calmly. He turned towards Sora. "Best stay out of my kid. Oh, and tell those other brats to go back to their beach."

Sora was confused at first, but then he heard Hayner, "Hey!" Sora turned around and say it was not only Hayner, but also Pence and Olette, all dressed in their normal street attire. The trio stopped around Sora but stayed at that distance away from Xigbar.

"Not the best time guys." Sora sounded irritated.

"It's not like we knew a bad guy would be here. Besides we can help." Hayner objected.

"No." Sora said flatly.

"Come on. I've been doing some training since the last time you were here." Hayner's voice sounded like it was getting louder.

"I don't care. Xigbar's one tough guy. Even I had trouble with him." Sora said, walking slowly towards Xigbar.

"Trouble?! You nearly lost, even though I let you win." Xigbar huffed. "Oh yeah, and the name's Braig now."

In purple flashes of light, his two Arrowguns formed in his hands. His right arm straightened to aim at Sora's head, while the other floated in midair under his hand.

Sora knew that stance, and instinctively kept his vision wide in case of Xigbar tried one of his sneaky trick shots.

"Guys! Get back!" Sora yelled to Hayner and the others.

Instead of firing a bullet from the gun outstretched in his hand, he grabbed the one floating beside him and shoved it into a black portal he formed right next him. In the same time frame, a portal opened behind Sora, the Arrowgun pointed out eagerly as it fired a trio of bullets. Sora reflexes were more than a match for the speeding bullets, instinctively swinging his Keyblade around to smack the purple projectiles, dissipating upon contact.

Xigbar chuckled the smallest of chuckles. In another flash, Xigbar jumped and landed in the air. How did he do that you ask? He simply used his mastered skills of gravity magic to completely flip himself upside-down and make it appear that he was standing on something.

Sora didn't act as surprised as he did when he first fought Xigbar, knowing full well his abilities. Xigbar fired a volley of shots at the keyblader, but he quickly dodged out of the way, making some advancement towards Xigbar's location. Xigbar fired another volley after reloading, but Sora repeated his actions and dodged each bullet, sometimes using the fallen pillars as cover.

Sora made a B-line dash towards Xigbar, Keyblade ready to swing at his head. Xigbar barely raised his arrowgun in time to stop the blow from connecting with his head, but the blow did make him stumble. Sora took his chance and jumped up, swinging his Keyblade all the while. Xigbar took a blow to the gut and fell on his back. As Sora descended, he pointed his Keyblade down, in an attempt to skewer Xigbar's heart.

But, Xigbar teleported away as soon as his back hit the ground. Sora's blade stuck into the dirt. Xigbar reappeared a couple feet in the air, floating, his weapons armed. Bullets flared almost instantaneously, causing Sora to peel back while blocking bullets that were too close for comfort. Now they were back at where they started; Sora at the gate, Keyblade ready for anything, and Xigbar in the middle of the yard, planning his next attack. Hayner, Pence, and Olette all stood behind one of the stone walls, their heads peeking out to observe the small duel.

"This must go no further."

The voice was deep, but not in a threatening way. Xigbar lowered himself back to the ground and had to turn around at the sound of the voice, while Sora and the others merely had to look up at the top of the roof on the mansion right at the edge above the entrance to see another hooded figure, wearing the same black cloak Xigbar was wearing now. Though his figure was easily differentiable from Xigbar, for the figure had a much more muscular build, was possibly taller, and his boots were thicker and bigger.

"Oh yeah? What makes ya think you can just say so?" Xigbar huffed, pointing his Arrowguns at the figure.

The figure on top of the mansion made no vocal response, but he did make a move. He took a step forward and in any other circumstance would have plummeted a whole story. But instead his foot hit something, and then he took another step, descending all the while. It was if he were walking on an invisible flight of stairs. And with the many adventures Sora embarked on, he knew this couldn't be impossible. Though the Twilight Town gang seemed awed by this.

Xigbar however reacted differently. He simply fired a bullet…..which bounced right off.

He fired again and again, bullets flying off in different directions once they deflected off the hooded man's body, who continued down the flight of invisible stairs. Once he reached ground level, Xigbar was forced to reload. But before he could get to the second part of his _chkk-chkk_, the hooded man darted forward and grabbed Xigbar by his neck, hard.

Xigbar dropped his arrowguns, which disappeared as they hit the ground, and grabbed at the man's arm in a feeble attempt to get him to stop cutting off his breathing.

"Tell your master…" the rest of the hooded man's sentence was unheard by everyone save for Xigbar, as he leaned in his head and whispered in his ear, too close for comfort.

Visibly, Xigbar gasped and the hooded man let him go. He feel to his knees and breathed heavily for air, before turning to Sora. His eye had a mixed look of anger and uncertainty.

"You're lucky this time you little runt" Xigbar hissed, before disappearing into a portal of darkness he formed.

Sora made sure all of the darkness faded away before turning his attention back to the stranger.

"Who are you?!" Sora demanded, Keyblade readied in his hand.

The hooded man turned his head towards Sora, "Someone, that wants to help everyone." the stranger said in a slow echoing tone.

Sora raised a brow at this statement. _He's lying isn't he? _Sora thought. So far, the only people who wore that cloak and did him no harm were Riku, Roxas, and that raven-haired girl that he could never remember anything about. And it was most certain that this man was- _holy-chocobo-how'd-he-get-so-close?_

Indeed, the hooded man was now face to face with Sora, and his sudden appearance caused the not-forgotten Twilight gang to take a step back. Though his face was hidden, the way his hood was positioned, he was staring at Sora's face, right in front of him. His hood shrouded his face, save for his mouth and chin, and after studying Sora for a bit, he grinned. A big, toothy, familiar grin. "Ready?"

It took a few seconds for his words to get into his head. "For what?"

"This!" and with a shout, the hooded man clasped both his hands on either side of Sora's head, and where his eyes should be a white flash shined bright.

After that blinding flash, Sora's mind was assaulted with a maelstrom of; blurred images, strangled voices, and scenes, all of these instances were from places and times Sora had either never seen or remembers to well. At every image, his eyes burned. At every noise, his ears popped and popped again. All instances made his head ache, as well as the hooded figures last message:

"_Remember this Sora; The past holds the future, the future determines the past, and the present...is all up to you."_

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_**Leyui**_

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"**I,-l-nd, shall knock you down!"**

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"**X-! Who else will I have ice cream with?!"**

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**Sora looked in awe at the land before him, each of the inhabitants were either flying around him or circled around him on the verdantly green grass. Had it be in any other circumstance, he'd be toast.**

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_**Simple and Clean is the way that your making me feel tonight  
>It's hard to let it go<strong>_

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"**I'm afraid that we can't do anything about his arm, his foot, or his eye. With your permission, we'd like to give him some of our mechanical replacements."**

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"**I'll be your dad."**

"**Really?"**

"**Of course, if you'll at least smile."**

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"**Does she look protected to you?"**

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_**Cur in gremio haeremus**_

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"**Surrrender now to Oblivion!"**

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**She couldn't believe her eyes, the place was so beautiful, and the atmosphere was perfect. It would probably be her first choice as a romantic location.**

**Too bad.**

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"**THIS. IS. MY. PLANET!"**

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_**Nobomeno**_

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"**My friends are my power, and I'm theirs!"**

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"**What's yours is mine!"**

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"**Mom…..you're alive"**

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_**Cur poenam cardi parvo damos**_

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**The Dragon King**

**An enormous and gallant dragon, teeth like lances, colored in the most pristine colors of purple, edged with a beautiful cerulean. His wings were even more patterned, each feather-like scales were alternately colored between purple, pink and gold. Other dragon's looked similar, but he had one thing no other dragon had; a large gold circular monument formed onto his back. Cosmos help you if that ring were to start spinning, for if it did, that could only mean he was charging his most powerful attack. The attack's name was not known to S-, but many warriors knew of it.**

**He let out a roar, the shear sound of it would install fear into inexperienced warriors, luckily that was not Sora's case.**

**Sora flew up to him, roared in equal intensity, and prepared to challenge the being that banished his father.**

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"**I love you, but I'm not in love with you, S-"**

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_**Renmiri**_

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"**Thousands will die if we fight…but millions will die if we choose not to."**

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"**So, my dad was the one who nearly destroyed Cornelia."**

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"**DESTRUCTION INCARNATE!"**

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"**FOR THE EMPEROR!"**

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_**Stella nobis non concessit, non concessit**_

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"**I summon the four fiends! Marilith, Lich, Kraken, and Tiamat!"**

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"**I will not allow K- to get away unpunished!"**

"**This is to your own sister!"**

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"**Is making friends that easy for you?"**

"**Is making friends that hard for **_**you**_**?"**

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"**If there's one thing that I could say to you V-…it would be thank you."**

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_**Stella nobis non concessit, non concessit**_

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"**SO ZETTA SLOW!"**

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**Yojuyogo**

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"**Miserable Insect!"**

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"**There's always a way."**

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_**Venarum pulsus in terram fluens**_

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"**Lowly Worm!"**

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"**Unleash the Shadows!"**

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_**Parvus, parvus pulsus**_

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"**Transcend the Stars!"**

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"**Embrace the Sins of Eternity!"**

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"**Which is it? A memory or us?"**

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"**Ruination to All!"**

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"**I'm asking you, as a friend….just…..put an end to me."**

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"**Here comes the Finale!"**

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_**Cor mortem ducens**_

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"**You need a reason to hate someone. But you don't ne****ed a reason to help someone."**

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"**Rao Y-, tu oui drehg fa cruimt dnicd res?"**

"**Uv luinca! Drao rambat ic pavuna."**

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"**He was the one that brought transcendent peace to us all. He was the one that brought eternal damnation to us all."**

"**His name is…."**

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_**Vita mollis in stellam redeunt**_

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_**Asatekanae**_

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_**We can't wait to burn it to the ground!**_

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**Everyone she knew was around her.**

**Her friends, her family, her enemies.**

**All of them where frozen in place, turned to impenetrable crystal.**

"**A thousand years…..?"**

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><strong>

"**No matter how much you change, you still manage to stay the same. That's the first reason I love you S-"**

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_**Animam sacrificare necesse est? **_

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**A letter to her most Royal Highness of the world Haven, **

**A message in the form of both letter and voice recording,**

**Dear Mrs. H-,**

**Let me first introduce myself. I am the newly appointed lead representative of the world G-. I have sent this message in order to discuss a rather overseen topic that been in plain sight for the more recent three years; Project Kronus.**

**Of course you already know some things about this program. Your eldest son, he's a member is he not? And of course you know of the work, how they are a special elite group of Keybladers trained to help our forces in the war.**

**But I want to discuss the less discussed details of their unit, like their biological augmentation and their 'improvements' in their hearts. Are you aware of Dr. Even's choosing of his so called 'subjects'? Does it not bother you how young they are? Do you remember the first attempt at something like this? How much a failure it was?**

**Yet, you were the one that cast the final vote that deemed the project deserve a second chance. **

**I think, that you have let your husband's rambunctious attitude affect your judgment. Just because your seemingly devoted husband is the leader of our forces and is out saving the worlds, doesn't mean that he's saving us by trusting such blasphemous creations.**

**Signed,**

**S- Guado**

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_**Cur in gremio, in gremio haeremus? **_

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"**The killing will never stop."**

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"**En Taro Auron"**

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"**Hey! Twiddle Idiots! Take them down!"**

"**GRRR! Humph!"**

"**Eheheheheheheheh"**

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_**Kutamaae**_

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"**It's…so…dark"**

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"**You have come this far, and still you understand nothing. Every heart must fade. Every heart return to darkness!"**

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_**Cur veniam petimus**_

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"**You abyss awaits"**

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"**I, am King Arthur. Ruler of this noble-"**

"**Arthur my young boy! Where and how have you been?"**

"**M-?"**

"**Hm? Oh, yes yes yes, quite right. It's been a few, erm, decades. Wouldn't blame you if you didn't recognize…wait a tome-flippin-minute! I haven't changed at all over the years! It is I that shouldn't be able to recognize you! Wort!"**

"…**.Oh, how long has it been since I've been called that?"**

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_**In terra fatali? **_

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"**What's happening? Falling….into…..darkness"**

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_**Hold me. **_

_**Whatever lies behind this morning is a little later on.**_

_**Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all.**_

_**Nothing's like before.**_

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"**Riku. Are certain you aren't jealous of Sora?"**

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**And once again, Sora brought her to new heights of euphoric bliss.**

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"**Hey fellas? Isn't that the **_**χ-**_**blade he's holding? The one you all died fighting for?"**

***Snarl**Growl**Hiss**Roar***

"**I thought so…Well, go get it."**

***RAAAAAAAAAARGH***

* * *

><p><strong>End Chapter<strong>

**A/N The only reason I put this story on hiatus is because I have a busy schedule and updates will be very infrequent, just trying not to get anybody's hopes up.**


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